From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
taxis
n 1: a locomotor response toward or away from an external
stimulus by a motile (and usually simple) organism
2: the surgical procedure of manually restoring a displaced body
part
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
-taxis \-tax"is\, n.
combining form for {taxis[3]}.
[PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Taxis \Tax"is\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ta`xis a division or
arrangement, fr. ta`ssein to arrange.]
1. (Surg.) Manipulation applied to a hernial tumor, or to an
intestinal obstruction, for the purpose of reducing it.
--Dunglison.
[1913 Webster]
2. In technical uses, as in architecture, biology, grammar,
etc., arrangement; order; ordonnance.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
3. a reflexive movement by a motile organism by which it
moves or orients itself in relation to some source of
stimulation; as, chemotaxis, the motion toward or away
from gradients of certain chemical compounds.
[PJC]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
Taxis
["A Language Facility for Designing Database-Intensive
Applications", J. Mylopoulos et al, ACM Trans Database Sys
5(2):185-207 (June 1980)].